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Saturday, 16 September 2017

21 Squadron RAF - 14th July 1940

Instinctively Harry pressed the fire button, the 109 before him was engulfed in a fireball as the fuel caught fire and the Messerschmidt exploded. After suffering from many jams in the previous days sortie the armourer had really done his job overnight and the Brownings were operating like clockwork, Archie would be bought a pint tonight!
Thursday evening saw another chapter in the ongoing Battle of Britain campaign, this time 'B' Flight led by Pilot Officer Darren White intercepted a flight of three He111 inbound over the south Kent coast.

Drew and new pilot Seth took the part of the RAF while Bruce and son Sasha were the Luftwaffe. I had play tested this scenario before so forewarned the players that the escorting Messerschmidts would almost certainly turn up so not to get too carried away with a turkey shoot.

If the bombers could complete two lengths of the table they would have accomplished their mission, if not it would be a RAF victory.

The RAF were soon laying about the Heinkels, but heedful of my earlier warnings were ever cautious for the arrival of the Luftwaffe fighters. The He111 is a tough old bird and can take a lot of cumulative damage without being shot down, but it wasn't long before P.O. White had claimed his first kill of the day as his rounds walked up the port wing and entered the bomb bay where the munitions exploded in a fireball.

Our squadron hero Sgt. Pilot Harry McWalters soon claimed another Heinkel, with flames licking around the cockpit door four Hun exited the plane to parachute into the arms of the local home guard patrol while the stricken beast crashed in woodland just outside Lyminge.

Summoned by the frantic radio calls of the bombers a schwarm of four Me109 made their appearance over the battlefield and were soon swooping in to the fray. The Hurricanes forewent their attack on the final He111 and attempted to gain altitude. The first casualty was P.O. White, the schwarm-fuhrer on his tail unleashed a burst of 20mm cannon fire and the Hurricane exploded in a fireball. However, it was certainly Whites day, thrown clear of the explosion he safely parachuted, sustaining only light injuries as he crashed through a greenhouse roof on landing.

Sgt. Pilot Harry McWalters certainly had his dander up and was swiftly into the Messerschmidts, he seemed to be everywhere and his expedient use of the ammunition remaining after attacking the Heinkels will be used in pilot training for years to come.

He first got onto the tail of the schwarm-fuhrer and a short burst of fire saw the Messerschmidt almost cut in half with a catastrophic structural failure, sweeping back in for the kill another Messerschmidt exploded in a massive fireball. With a run of cards and fantastic shooting rolls that will become legend another Messserschmidt was dispatched as the pilot slumped in his seat and the final one exploded scattering debris over the Kent countryside as McWalters emptied his final rounds into it.

McWalters had accounted for all four of the Bosche fighters in short order. Drews firing rolls were truly magnificent and for several rounds of shooting he expended non noticeable quantities of ammunition at all. He'll certainly be getting another bar added to that DFC!

After bailing out the previous day, Charles Morris had another run of bad luck, fire from one of the Messerschmidt had ruptured his fuel line and his plane caught fire on landing at Hendon and was a total write off, the burns suffered will keep him out of action for a good few days.

As the fitters were putting out the fire 'A' Flight was scrambled to intercept a new raid inbound over the English Channel.

Squadron Roster Sheet

Basic
Details

Aircraft
(11)

Pilots
(15)

Date: 13th
July 1940 (Phase I)

Unit: 21 Squadron
(11 Group)

Airfield: Hendon

Aircraft: Hurricane
MK1

Aircraft under
repair b/fwd

Pilots absent b/fwd

1

Back from workshop
today

Pilots returning
today

Serviceable aircraft
b/fwd

11

Active pilots b/fwd

14

New aircraft
received

Serviceable next
sortie

11

Available for Sortie

14

Events
scheduled for today

This
Sortie

‘B’
Flight is vectored onto a trio of HE-111

“A”
Flight

Red Section

Kills on t/off

Sortie
Log

Red 1

F.O.
Damien Townsend (Veteran)

3

Red 2

Sgt. Pilot James Phillips (Regular)

0

Red 3

Sgt. Pilot Kerry O’Malley
(Veteran)

2

Yellow Section

Kills on t/off

Sortie
Log

Yellow 1

F.O. Stephen Hines (Regular)

2

Yellow 2

Sgt. Pilot Mark Wilson (Regular)

2

Yellow 3

P.O. Adrian Jacobs (Regular)

1

“B”
Flight

Blue Section

Kills on t/off

Sortie
Log

Blue 1

P.O. Darren Wright (Regular)

3

Claim HE-111, Hurricane
exploded, thrown clear, available 15th July.

Blue 2

Sgt. Pilot Peter Lewis (Regular)

4

Returns safely with minor damage.

Blue 3

Sgt. Pilot Charles Morris
(Regular)

0

Crash landed, aircraft
destroyed, out of action until 23rd July.

Green Section

Kills on t/off

Sortie
Log

Green 1

Sgt. Pilot Harry McWalters DFC &
bar (Top Ace)

15

Claim HE-111, four ME-109

Green 2

P.O. Terry Smith (Regular)

2

Returned safely

Green 3

P.O. Clement Bates (Sprog)

0

Returned safely

Pilots not assigned to flying
duties this Sortie

Aircraft

Name

Kills

Aircraft
available pre sortie

11

Sgt.
Pilot Archie Spencer (Sprog)

0

Aircraft
lost this sortie

1

P.O.
Francis Clinton (Sprog)

0

Aircraft
damaged (to workshop)

2

Sqdn Ldr Terry
Deakin (Veteran) Wounded back on 16th July

4

Other
post sortie adjustments

F.0. Simon Barrington (Regular)
KIA

Flt.
Lt. Matthew Palmer (Veteran) KIA

0

2

Number
of aircraft c/fwd next sortie

8

Other post sortie events

Pilots

No
of pilots pre sortie

14

Pilots
killed this sortie

0

Pilots
missing this sortie

1

Pilots
new wounded/sick

1

Other
post sortie adjustments

Active
pilots c/fwd next sortie

12

Notes

Harry
gets another bar to his DFC.

Another
mission:

‘A’
flight scrambled to intercept an enemy raid of three Ju87 Stuka escorted by
two schwarm of Me109.